Kill that Creak

For the past month or so, I’ve been plagued with a mystery creak when I ride my bike to work. At first I thought it was my front wheel, so I rebuilt it and still the creaking continued. After a couple weeks of that, I figured it’s time to replace my wheels anyways since they’re over 20 years old. The new wheels are great. They improved my speed for sure, but the creaking continued.

I finally decided to kill the creak, so a few nights ago, I tore into my bike. First I rebuilt and ended up replace my bottom bracket. I checked the chainring bolts, and my pedals. Reinstalled my pannier rack, adjusted my front break and in desperation, I changed the chainring and chain to NO AVAIL. I figured since I was doing all this, I may as well adjust my seat height, which has felt low of late. The instant touched the wrench to the seatpost bolt, I heard the familiar creak. Problem solved, and by accident! The seat post is now greased and clamp is tightened. Now my bike is its usual stealthy fixed gear self, and tuned up and ready for another year of riding.